Race Report: MXGP of Spain

The nature of Cerro Negro and the speed of the pace meant that the MXGP motos had little in the way of gripping action. The first eight positions barely changed during the first moto; Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Clement Desalle making a satisfying return to the top three with third and is still in the comeback phases from injury. HRC’s Gautier Paulin is treading a similar path and beat Red Bull KTM’s Tony Cairoli, his Honda teammate Evgeny Bobryshev and impressive Swiss (best scrubs of the weekend) Valentino Guillod. Behind Monster Energy Yamaha’s Jeremy Van Horebeek (riding with a hairline fracture in his left hand) was the world champion, Romain Febvre.

On Saturday a slightly controversial incident occurred when Febvre could not avoid Simpson, in fourth place, on the uphill double (the Scot’s chain having departed) and crashed. He was hit by Gautier Paulin and then put his left arm out to recover the Yamaha as Cairoli came up the inside line. The KTM rider could not avoid an impact and Febvre was diagnosed with a painful minor dislocation without any breakages. The Frenchman underwent physio for long stretches of the afternoon and evening with the aim of attempting the motos on Sunday and he soldiered through arm-pump and the pain barrier in the first race but was more like his usual attacking self in the second moto as he ran to fourth.

Febvre’s malaise had repercussions to the tune of 20 points for the championship chase at the midway stage and only days before he was due to star at St Jean D’Angely and his home Grand Prix. It was in France last year (Villars sous Ecot) that 461 shone to bag his very first MXGP triumph and it was the confidence-boosting springboard for what would eventually be world championship and Motocross of Nations glory. France is bound to be a different experience now for the 24-year-old who is expected to renew his Yamaha contract in the coming days and will have to do his best to keep close to Gajser until the two-weekend break at the beginning of July and a decent path of time to heal.

Cairoli attracted a degree of criticism on social media channels for the move and Febvre also was unimpressed, but the GoPro footage showed the Sicilian could not have seen the full melee on the ground and could have done little to avoid the sprawling limbs of the world champion. Cairoli was slightly off in Spain thanks to his starts and a second moto crash put him down to ninth. The Italian did not fare as badly as Kevin Strijbos who suffered falls in every outing on his Suzuki and when he was landed upon by Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle on the first lap of the second moto the Belgian (and the Brit) retired with a knock to the head and a sour taste of the Spanish mud.

Gautier Paulin made a welcome return to the box for the first time since the Grand Prix of Belgium last summer. He joked that he felt 80 years old after the press conference in which he admitted he was happy to be back in the winner’s circle and it had be a long trip to recover from the fractured rib and vertebra that cast his second (and most likely last) season with HRC to the reeds.

Local favourite (at least until teenager Jorge Prado matures to swell the crowds even further in a country where motorcycle racing champions almost seem to grow on trees; Prado took his second podium finish in the EMX250 series in what is his first year on a 250) Jose Butron was eleventh overall and provided glimpses of how the passionate Spanish would easily get behind a rider who was pushing for the pinnacle of a Grand Prix class.